Fresh violence flares in Mexican tourist town

by Frank Jack Daniel
OAXACA, Mexico,
Oct 11

Masked protesters hijacked buses and forced government workers from offices in Mexico's strife-torn city of Oaxaca on Wednesday as violence reignited in the troubled tourist town.

Striking teachers and leftist activists occupied much of the colonial city four months ago, storming Congress and blocking hundreds of streets in an effort to oust state Gov. Ulises Ruiz.

Fears of violence before Mexican President-elect Felipe Calderon takes office in December had eased after protesters tentatively agreed this week to loosen their grip while a Senate commission studies whether Ruiz has lost control.

But a group of about 100 masked protesters was shot at as it roamed Oaxaca in hijacked public buses on Wednesday demanding government workers who were trickling back to their offices go home.

News reports said a group of senators who planned to visit the city on a fact-finding mission called off the trip.

A Reuters photographer saw a gunman firing a pistol at masked, fleeing protesters as a handful of people ran out of one government building. Protest leaders said one demonstrator was wounded by the gunfire.

"I hope the senators that visit us in Oaxaca see that things are out of control," said a protester who refused to give his name. He displayed several bullet casings he had picked up in the street.

The protesters accuse Ruiz of stealing an election, using police violence to break up protests and ignoring widespread poverty in Oaxaca. He belongs to a traditional wing of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which ruled Mexico for 71 years until 2000.

The crisis is a headache for President Vicente Fox, who worries instability in Oaxaca could cause problems for his ruling party successor, Felipe Calderon, who takes office on Dec. 1.

If senators decide Oaxaca's government has lost control, it could lead to Ruiz's ouster.

Several government offices in Oaxaca had reopened in recent days and protest graffiti was painted over as Ruiz tried to show he was in control.

"They were wiping away our slogans, so we came out to prove that this city is ungovernable right now," said teacher Ruben Villavicencio, clutching a can of spray paint. Police have not entered the city center since being beaten back when they tried to break the strike in its early days.

Protest leaders tentatively agreed on Monday to scale back blockades, but many supporters say they will not leave Oaxaca unless Ruiz resigns.

Activists on Wednesday reinforced some roadblocks and threatened to shut the highway between Oaxaca and Mexico City.

Oaxaca state is popular with visitors for its beaches and Indian culture, but its remote villages are some of Mexico's poorest.